Author: MercurialLily
Fandom: Hetalia
Title: Iris
Rating: T
Pairing: None
October 7, 1993, Frankfurt
Gilbert's apartment was small but impeccably neat. The furniture in the main room consisted of a small sofa, two chairs, and a coffee table. The windows looked out onto the street. The blinds were partially drawn. A pair of binoculars and a camera sat on the ledge.
"Do either of you want anything?" Gilbert asked as he locked the door. Natalya took note of the deadbolt.
"Nothing for me, thanks," Elizabeta said. "If you don't mind, I'm going to freshen up a bit. That train ride felt like an eternity." She turned and went down the hall.
Gilbert turned to Natalya. "How about you?"
"Oh, just water, please," Natalya replied. She awkwardly shuffled her feet and looked down at the ground. She had no idea what else to do or say.
Luckily for her, Gilbert seemed to sense her apprehension, and he said, "You can go sit down if you want. I'll get your water."
"Thank you." With a small bow, Natalya moved further into the apartment. She decided to sit in one of the chairs. It wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but it was fine. She folded her hands in her lap and chewed on her bottom lip. Why did I have to come here as well? Elizabeta would've been fine by herself. Well, maybe not. She was really jumpy on the train. And that guy at the station... Who was he? What did Elizabeta mean, 'We might be compromised'? Why aren't they telling me anything?
"Here you go."
She jumped and looked up. Gilbert was standing in front of her, a glass of water in his hand. Natalya took the glass and quietly said, "Thanks."
"No problem," Gilbert said, taking a seat on the couch. "Liese should be back soon."
"Why do you call her that?"
"What? Liese?"
"Yeah."
"It's a nickname," Gilbert explained. "German, of course. I've called her that for as long as I've known her. She's the one who told me I could use it. It's easier than calling her by her full name."
"Oh."
"Why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?" Gilbert suggested. "All I know is your name."
Natalya gave a small sigh. "I'm from Belarus. Minsk. I'm seventeen. My parents died when I was young. Somehow I got by on my own. Then I believe it was yesterday when I was unceremoniously kidnapped and dragged to Warsaw. I didn't appreciate that." She took a sip of water. "You know, I'm really getting sick of that story. Now you tell me something."
Gilbert laughed slightly and shrugged. "Sure, why not? It's only fair. Hi, Gilbert Beilschmidt, nice to meet you. Born and raised in East Berlin. Well, it's just plain Berlin now, isn't it? I'll be twenty-three in a couple of months. And I know you're curious, but you're probably too afraid to ask. So I'll just tell you." He leaned forward. "My white hair and red eyes? That's caused by a little something called albinism. Not as cool as it sounds. It's a pain in the ass when people gawk and stare, but whatever. It's no big deal, I suppose. There are others who have it worse."
"...Huh."
"What are you guys talking about?" Elizabeta strode into the room, running her fingers through her hair. She sat down on the couch and leaned against Gilbert.
"Nothing much," Natalya said, glancing down at her glass.
There was a brief bit of silence before Gilbert glanced at Elizabeta and said, "You mentioned Antonov before, right?"
Elizabeta nodded. "Yep. I saw him on our train. I don't know where he got on, but he definitely got off here. He didn't seem to be following us, but it's still cause for alarm."
"Right."
"Um, who is this Antonov guy?" Natalya asked. "Because I have no idea what you're talking about."
Gilbert reached for some files that lay on the coffee table. He went through them and pulled out a black-and-white photograph, which he handed to Natalya. "This is him. We know he uses a lot of aliases, so we use a code name. All we really know for sure is that he's Russian."
Natalya took a look at the photograph. It was very low-quality, but she recognized the man from the train station.
"Four months ago, we were on a high-profile mission in Vienna," Elizabeta explained. "My partner is this operation was a Czech girl named Viktoria. She's the one you saw in the photo back in Warsaw. Gilbert was partnered with another agent. Our mark was apparently hiding out in an old warehouse, so that's where we went. At some point, Viktoria and I got separated. When I found her, she was dying from a gunshot wound to the chest. She was able to tell me that she'd been shot by one of our agents who went rogue. I tried to save her, but..." She looked down. "I couldn't."
"We learned later that this guy Antonov was doing business in Vienna around that time. Our intel was also able to find out that the rogue agent moved to Moscow in the days following the incident and hasn't left since," Gilbert said. "So we thought maybe there was a connection. More recently, Liese went to Russia to try and get close to Antonov's people. Things got kind of messy -"
"Yes, I almost died," Elizabeta interrupted. "We've been over this. Long story short, I saw our rogue there. So our theory was proven correct. But I never expected to see Antonov here..."
"What are you going to do?" Natalya asked.
"What else can I do? Tread carefully. Make sure I don't accidentally fuck something up. I'll feel safer once we're back in Warsaw. At least there we have guards and snipers. There's not a lot of security here."
"Oh, don't forget that we have a thing tomorrow," Gilbert said. "We can go over the plan in the morning."
Elizabeta nodded slowly. Then she glanced up at the clock on the wall. "Is it really that late?"
Natalya tilted her head. "Are you tired?"
"This kid slept on the train," Elizabeta explained to Gilbert. "I still don't know how. That train was so loud."
Gilbert looked over at Natalya. "You don't mind spending the night out here, do you? I only have one bed."
Natalya shook her head. "I'll be fine," she said.
"See you in the morning." Elizabeta got to her feet. She pulled Gilbert up along with her, and the two of them left the room. After a minute, Natalya heard a door close.
Natalya spent some time sitting quietly in the small room, gazing at nothing in particular. She could faintly hear Elizabeta giggling through the wall. She wasn't used to this sense of isolation. When she'd lived on the streets, she'd always had a feeling that someone was watching her. But not here. It was strange. It had been less than two days, but everything had changed. For better or for worse, everything was different now.
A/N: Hopefully it won't take me as long to post the next chapter. Speaking of which, the action will start to pick up a bit soon, so please stay tuned! Thanks for reading!